JSE investigating Pinnacle following arrest
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) says it will pose questions to listed technology firm Pinnacle Holdings regarding recent share trading activity, after news emerged that its executive director had been arrested.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) announced on Monday (24 March) that Pinnacle Holdings executive director, Takalani Tshivhase had been arrested on 5 March 2014 on charges of bribery.
Tshivhase allegedly offered a lieutenant general in the technology management environment of the SAPS R5 million to secure a multimillion rand tender for his company.
In response to the allegations, Pinnacle said that “Mr Tshivhase denies all allegations of attempted bribery, and will defend the charges.”
The announcement of the arrest sent Pinnacle’s stock into a free-fall – wiping off as much as 25% of the group’s market value.
And by 11:30am on the JSE on Wednesday, Pinnacle’s shares tumbled a further 22.7%, or R3.40 to R11.60.
Trade timeline
According to SENS announcements, Tshivhase and Pinnacle Holdings CEO, Arnold Fourie both disposed of shareholding in the company between the former’s arrest (5 March) and the SAPS media release on the matter (24 March):
On 14 March, 2014, Fourie disposed of 1,200,000 shares at a price of R19.17, totalling R23 million.
Also on 14 March, Executive director George Wiehahn sold 80,000 shares, totalling over R1.6 million.
Then, on 19 March, 2014, Tshivhase completed three sale trades totaling 200,000 shares at a share value of R20.00, totaling R4 million.
When asked about the trades, the JSE’s director of Issuer Regulation, John Burke said that the exchange is currently “investigating the issue and will be posing some questions to the company.”
“Whenever there is a situation like this we need to see who traded what, and what information was available to them. Upon completion we will hand over the finding to the FSB (Financial Services Board),” JSE spokesman, Peter Redman told BDLive.
A Pinnacle spokesperson told BusinessTech that the company has seen reports about the JSE’s investigation, but had not received any confirmation from within the company that one was underway.
Pinnacle Holdings CEO, Arnold Fourie could not be immediately reached for comment.
More on Pinnacle
Pinnacle shares crushed on bribery charge
Loading ...